Do all kids lie...or is it just mine?

So if you have been following along you know that Booger lost a couple library books...at some point during this school year. UGH. Well we found one but not the other as of Friday.

I get a call at work on Friday from the hubs that says Booger went to the library and talked to the librarian and she said both books were there but he still didn't get his report card. So in charges mom to find out why he doesn't have his report card. I get a phone message back from what I percieve to be a VERY snarky librarian who suggusts that perhaps Booger should check his room more thoroughly. Yeah..since we haven't done that already huh? Witch! Anyhow I come home and start discussing this matter with the the hubs and decide to check Boogers backpack (since he didn't take it to school on Friday)-LO and BEHOLD what do I find?? The library book we did find on the shelf!! He didn't take it back to school!! OMG!! I was stupified! Booger wasn't home for me to ask why he hadn't taken the book back but he was sure going to tell me why at earliest opportunity!!

So when I pick him up from my sisters the conversation went something like this: Booger who did you you talk to at the library about those books? (Now he knows I never ask a question I don't already know the answer to) The librarian. Which one? There is only one mom! Okay. Booger are you sure you turned in the book we found on the shelf? Um, well, I forgot. Booger, why did you tell dad that both the books were found and they were in the library? Because I didn't want to be in trouble for not turning in the books! Well Booger, now you are in trouble for lying! One week no video games.

All three of my kids lie. They lie about turning in papers, they lie about doing their homework, they lie about stupid stuff. Like did you clean your room? Yes. Okay let's go check...oh wait mom! I have to go put some stuff away! I mean seriously it must just be a knee jerk reaction for kids to just say whatever it is that mom or dad want to hear to get them to shut up and leave them alone!

I am truly worried about my older son...he seems to lie about some pretty big things...not to me but to his friends. He has told some whoppers-at one point he was telling his friends he was a pro-BMX rider. He has never even rode BMX. He wants to but never has. He lies to his girlfriends. They bust him in those lies and dump him!! Which I secretly love-good for them-don't put up with my lying sons behavior. Don't get me wrong, my heart breaks everytime his does but he has to learn somehow. I definately worry about his lying...more so than the other two. But I can't really get too hard on his case for lying to his friends...the punishment he faces tfrom them is far worse than anything I could do to him. I just try to remind him that lying is not acceptable and that his friends obviously don't like it.

Honestly, I don't know what to do about it! I don't want them to get away with it but what on earth is the appropriate action? Seriously-ground them every time they lie? They would never see the light of day for weeks on end! Soap in thier mouth? That is child abuse these days. I don't want to just dismiss the lies...little lies lead to big lies, and some big lies lead to jail.

I guess for now it's punish the lie depending on the severity of the lie and just hope like heck they outgrow this lying nonsense sooner rather than later!

End of the year chaos

So every year about this time we discover that SOMEONE has forgotten to return a library book. This year its Booger. We usually find the library book on the book shelf...imagine that a book on a bookshelf. This usually isn't a problem unless you tell me 5 minutes before you have to walk out the door. UGH! Makes me insane when they do this. This being losing library books and waiting until the last minute to tell me you have lost it.

What am I going to do with that kid??

Well today is awards day for Booger and the girl. Should be nice to see both my kids get an award!

Manic Monday!

So I guess when you have three kids you have to get up and make sure are dressed every day somethings are bound to go wrong. I have been doing this for a while so I pretty much have it down to a science...I get up at 6 to shower, then go wake up the girl by 6:30 and turn on the boys light...at 6:45 they are usually rolling out of bed-sometimes I have to go all drill sargeant on them and revlee them out of bed, around 7 I hit the kitchen for breakfast and we usually all cruise out the door at 7:15. I also have a long standing policy that I will not deal with signing papers, permission slips, planners or hand out lunch money or anything else school related in the morning. They are 10, 12, and 13. They know what is important and they know to get it signed the night before or I am NOT going to sign it. This has been the deal since the started school.

So when my son, the 10 year old, came to me this morning at 6:55 and said I need two sodas for my ACE/GSP party I wanted to KILL him! I was like for the whole class?? or what? This was the first time I had heard of this need for soda and was furious that he was telling me a mere 2 hours before they were needed. Needless to say I stuck to my guns and refused to go get the soda...even though it was not a big deal and I could have detoured and made it all happen but the point is that he is notorius for last minute! He constantly forgets to tell me things and sadly the school is awful about communicating when it comes to ACE/GSP. There have been several parties/functions where he needed to bring something and all I could do was take his word for it and send it.

Okay so I stuck to my guns and didn't get the soda. But what I did get was nuclear meltdown from a 10 year old. He huffed and puffed and stomped around for the remainder of the morning. When I told him to get the treats we made so he could take them in he stomped to the kitchen. I informed him he was grounded for the day and he argued he didn't stomp...well he's grounded for the day! He proceeded to whine some more and flop down on the couch and cry. All because he isn't getting soda! I mean SERIOUSLY!! The kid is getting 2 parties this week and he's whining because he isn't getting soda.

This has always been the problem. The 10 year old-Booger-whines about everything when he doesn't get his way. He is the baby of the family and sports the baby of the family mentality and as the oldest child of my siblings it drives me CRAZY! I remember when I got the phone call from the husband about Booger having a tantrum in the middle of a store because he didn't get the hot wheels he wanted. Husband was ENTHRALLED and ready to kill him...Booger was probably almost 3. I advised the husband to leave him there having his tantrum and walk away. Which he did. And Booger responded pretty well...but not before finishing his tantrum by peeing in his pants. The husband was mortified. Not only had Booger fallen out in the middle of the store but he peed his pants on top of it! WOW! His tantrums have worked for him in the past...he tends to fall apart and get his way because I don't always have the strength to deal with it. I guess I should figure out a way to get some will power...or that kid is going to be whining his way into Harvard with me footing the bill. UGH!

Okay..one more thing before I go. I have this wierd thing-I honestly think that girls should have their hair pulled up when they have PE. Am I crazy? I remember what it was like having gym in the morning and getting all sweaty and then having my hair look like crap the rest of the day. So I told the girl to get her hair up this morning she looked at me like I was CRAZY! As if I had just asked her to make a beehive on her head!! She hates it when I ask her to get her hair up...I hate it when her hair is down and in her face. I suppose this is a battle that has never been won or lost...just both parties continuing to fight..and relenting now and then so they can live to fight another day. Oh and oddly enough I had a dream she started her 'cycle' last night...wonder exactly when that will be coming...any day now is my guess. AWESOME! I couldn't stand myself when I was cycling..how on earth am I going to tolerate her!??

Stop mumbling under your breath as you walk away!

So my teenage son and I are constantly having discussions (sometimes with loud talking inloved-which can lead to yelling-on my part) and when he hears something he doesn't like he turns around and walks away mumbling under his breath the whole way! This simple act of defiance drives me up the wall. He did it this morning when I was talking to him about being checked out of school after graduation...it is after all the last day of school. I was trying to explain to him that I didn't understand why I was going to check him out so he could go home with his dad (who doesn't live with me) since he will be at his house this weekend and that would be two weekends in a row he would be gone. PLUS, I have been toying with a trip to Disney that weekend-I just hadn't 100% decided and didn't want to tell the kids until I was certain.

Needless to say I was forced to tell him why I didn't want him to go to his dads and he understood better but still the mumbling under his breath is ANNOYING...and as a result I still own his cell phone...which has been at the bottom of my purse since Monday morning!

Will the mumbling ever stop??

Officially the mother of a teen

As of May 2 I am officially the mother of a teenage son. Yep the boy turned 13! The weeks leading up to this event were more traumatic for me than they were for him. He took it in stride while I almost had an emotional meltdown in the card isle at Wal-Mart.

Honestly it all began when the talks of middle school invaded my home. First we did the middle school open house night. That was pretty traumatic for me. The thought of my baby wandering around that huge school. OH MY! Then when an entire row of teenage girls said in unison "Hi" I wanted to DIE. My son had officially become a babe magnet. Don't get me wrong...he has always had girlfriends-a steady stream of them. Never really without one but never seeming to be very serious about them either. Until recently! Recently the girls have been visiting the house and he is visiting with them and the number of texts going in and out of his cell phone is up in the 5,000 count. So the girl thing and the level of his seriousness with the girl thing is starting to make my stomach hurt. Couple this with the recent discovery of arm pit hair and I am in pure AGONY!

To add to the agony it seems as though overnight he developed this attitude! He has always been a little lippy...he likes to argue-maybe I could talk him into being a lawyer-but lately he has been responding with "oh my God" to everything. We tell him to take out the trash he responds with a suck of the teeth and oh my God. His attitude was so much so that I confiscated his cell phone and threw it in MY purse-which is sacred ground-no man shall enter-and didn't tell him when I would be returning it!

So here I am...the young age of 31 (almost 32) raising a teenager, an about to be teenager and a 10 year old. What am I thinking? You know what...at least once a week I consider boarding school a viable option. I now fully understand why in some species mothers eat their young -to save themselves from raising teenagers! I often wonder how in the world am I going to survive this? Not just him...but I have an adopted daughter who will be 13 in October. A couple weeks ago she informed me that she was going through puberty. She did this very matter of fact and called me from school to tell me so! UGH!

The upside of this insanity...that by the time I am 40 I will be all done raising children. Well at least the won't be teenagers anymore!